Intel Core i5-3470 Ivy Bridge Quad-Core CPU Review

Article Index

Low-Res Gaming: Crysis and ETQW

For our next set of tests, we moved on to some in-game benchmarking with Crysis (DirectX) and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (OpenGL). When testing processors with Crysis or ET:QW, we drop the resolution to 1024x768, and reduce all of the in-game graphical options to their minimum values to isolate CPU and memory performance as much as possible. However, the in-game effects, which control the level of detail for the games' physics engines and particle systems, are left at their maximum values, since these actually place some load on the CPU rather than GPU.

Low-Resolution Gaming: Crysis and ET: Quake Wars

Taking the GPU out of the Equation

We've left the iGPU scores in these tests just to give you all another game-related data point running on the Intel HD 2500 series graphics engine. The real comparison is between the systems using the discrete graphic card, and it's here that the Core i5-3470 shines. It clearly outruns the FX-8150 and finishes just behind the higher-end, more expensive Core i7 chips.